Rating: 
Summary: D2 Difference¿
Review: In this final installment of the trilogy, just as the contributors changed from the first to the second book, a change was again made, and this makes the final installment the superior of the 3. Artist David Dorman was selected to illustrate this book; since he is a fixture in the Star Wars Realm he brings more credibility to the work. Mr. Dorman, or one of the other long-term illustrators should have been involved in this project from beginning to end.The other basic change was the involvement of core characters from Star Wars that everybody who is a fan is familiar with. The role-playing games and the video games are widely played and very popular. However the audience is smaller, and as this series found out, it is not large enough to support a stand-alone series of novellas, which are overpriced, and repetitive. The problem with this series is there is just too much of a gap between the Star Wars Universe as we know it as moviegoers and book readers, and these adaptations from the role-playing and video experiences. There is a way to greatly improve the readability of this series if you want to make it part of your collection. "Mastadge" has a great list of some of the illustrated soft cover books that cover the background and the ancient portions of the Jedi and Sith Histories. They cover material you will find nowhere else, and they will add a new dimension to your library, and to your understanding of this ongoing epic. Some of the titles to check out are, "Knights Of The Old Republic", "Dark Lords Of The Sith", and "The Sith War". They are all available through Amazon, and while I have enjoyed many of them, I have never reviewed the works. But as I said, Mastadge has reviewed almost all the varieties of Star Wars writing, and the list he has put together is well done.
Rating:
Summary: Out Of Step
Review: It has been years since I originally read this series, this particular episode, "Rebel Agent", is the second in a three-part cycle. This trilogy is based upon the role-playing games and I believe some of the video experiences. However they are out of synch with the rest of "Star Wars", and this is an issue. Previously I have commented on how seamlessly the books that now approach 200 in number have fit together, how all were worth the reading time, for bits and pieces of history were to be gleaned from their review. This particular cycle offered full-page paintings by a noted artist of the Science Fiction Genre, and while some readers would have preferred their mind's eye, I think they are good, if inconsistent. Specifically the image that is supposed to portray Princess Leia looks like her less than attractive sister. There is no sister, and there should not have been this image. At 128 pages in length, backtracking the story as if the reader decided to start in the middle is simply wrong. Star Wars readers tend to read everything, and if the story is weak, or too brief, then perhaps there should be a different story. Characters like Boba Fett have developed their personalities over the decades, and the version of Fett in this book reads as though the writer never read a word about this character before. Fett sounds like a bad lounge act. Fett actually sounds like someone else dressed in the Mandalorian Armor. This caricature speaks more in this book, than in a dozen other novels, and trite is being kind as to the dialogue. If someone were to start with this series after viewing the movies, they would be correct in feeling lost. These books populate the galaxy with Dark Side Jedi at every turn. They must have been hiding in the movies. There is one interesting bit as to Yoda's history, and it may sound strange to some, but if you are as addicted to this world of George Lucas as I am, it nearly justifies the balance.
Rating:
Summary: You may want to go to the library to get this one.
Review: It started with a good plot but never finished what it started, this is not a book to bye, not saying it is not a book to read but you may want to go to the library to get this one. Not worth the money to own.
Rating: 
Summary: very very very cooooooooooooool
Review: Of course, if you've played Dark Forces and/or Jedi Knight, you'll absolutely love this book and all its sequels. I myself have this book on my top five favorite books I've ever read in my whole life! I've read multiple books, too. It's entertaining, very consistant to Dark Forces, and just plain cool!!
Rating: 
Summary: Exellent
Review: Overall this was a well writen book. Good characters, exellent story and good writing. My only disapointment with the book is that it containes certain discrepencies with the story overview from the game. Such as the cercumstaces of Kyle and Jan's meeting and his "conversion" to the Alliance. However the author had a good grasp of the storyline and characters and worked the game into the book quite well. If you loved the game like I did you'll love the book.
Rating:
Summary: Made me feel like I was Kyle in action
Review: Received a lot of pleasure reading William C. Dietz book. Illustrations were great. Loves the way he brings about science fiction to the reader. I can't wait to read Jedi Knight.
Rating:
Summary: It's (soldier for the empire) an awsome read.
Review: soldier for the empire (SFTE) is an awsome read and it fits the storyline of dark forces and jediknight perfectly, the authors are excelent Starwars writers and I have a collection of over 60 Starwars books, thats quite a feat. I liked this book because it has some excelent action and, its about my favorite computer games. I hove found only one fault in the book and that is that the oficer who thrusts Morgan Karatan's head on a stick is incorectly named.
Rating:
Summary: The Game was better
Review: Soldier for the Empire is a rather odd graphic novel. It combines a short book with illustrations that vary from strong to below average. It expands on the Dark Forces series of video games, and follows Kyle Katarn from his days as an Imperial agent to becoming one of the most trusted agents of the Alliance, to his days as a Jedi Knight. The book had its moments, and most of the illustrations did the games, and the Star Wars universe credit. Unfortunately, there were some problems with the story (the sequence on the asteroid was a bit questionable so far as realism goes), and the drawings sometimes referred to the wrong pages. The book is better than its sequel, Rebel Agent, but comes up short when taking on the finale to the series, Jedi Knight. Buy that one instead, it isn't hard to figure out what's going on, particularly if you have played the game.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as the others
Review: The first Dark Forces "graphic story album," Soldier for the Empire, was a very good and beautifully illustrated book. Unfortunately, the sequel falls short in many ways. Picking up the action again after the Kyle Katarn's exploits in the Dark Forces computer game, this book takes place somewhere between Return of the Jedi and the conquest of Coruscant in the X-Wing novels. It details the first half of the Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight computer game, instead of being more of an original story like the Soldier, with mixed results. At times, the action is like the last chapter of Soldier, almost word for word out of the game. At other times though, it's hard to place what's going on. Also, for obvious reasons, the book can't parallel the game detail for detail. There are more characters and details filled in between missions. While the first book was well and succinctly written, this one is far too much so; it would have benefitted immeasurably from another fifty pages or so of materiel. Kyle, even with the extra stuff going on not in the game, seems to jump from adventure to adventure, unevenly able to call on the Force, and sometimes the chapters and situations seem to lose focus, or switch POVs without breaks. It's kind of annoying. And the ease with which Kyle takes out Pic and Gorc...straight out of Indiana Jones...just whip out the blaster and shoot the guy. It was kind of silly. Probably the most dissatisfying bit about this book though is the quality of illustrations. While by no means bad, the art can't stand up with Dorman's literal renditions in Jedi Knight, and certainly isn't even comparable to William's beautiful renditions in Soldier for the Empire. Despite all this, the book isn't that bad. It still has a bunch of cool action, evil enemies, witty dialogue, and even though it is very incomplete, the you know that there'll be a sequel to wind everything up. This book ent so good, but I'm looking forward to the third one.
Rating:
Summary: Great! Encore! Dietz Does It Again!
Review: The illustrations and writing style, as in the first two, are excellent. I just have one question about this: why is it so relatively easy for Kyle Katarn to defeat Jerec? I mean, Jerec has a lot of the Valley's power here! It took thousands upon thousands of Jedi to defeat Exar Kun, and the combined Force power of at least 100,000 Jedi - good and evil - are trapped in the Valley of the Jedi! Yet it took only one Jedi's Wall of Light - Kyle's - to defeat Jerec! How does that work? Is Kyle's own power increased temporarily by using the part of the Valley power that Jerec hadn't taken yet? That seems the most probably thing, but I wish Dietz had specified. Oh, well. It's a masterpiece all the same. And one more thing: the "visions of the past" that Kyle receives can be confusing at times, but are really nifty!
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